Home Theater Hack

Last night Tia and I wanted to watch Limitless on the big screen from Netflix. We fired up the Blu-ray player and tried to select Netflix. It wouldn't connect. We tried a number of tricks, but for some reason the DVD player could connect to the network, but wouldn't pick up an IP address from the DHCP server. Despite assigning an address and putting in DNS servers, it would not connect.

Never fear, Tia asked if we could get the computer connected. Hmmm, I have a VGA dongle for my Macbook since I use it to present and the TV has a VGA in. So I grabbed a cable, the dongle and tried connecting. Once I set the TV to the PC input, I got...

Incorrect PC signal.

Grrr. Fortunately I have the internet and I managed to find our TV on the Sony site and read a little about the VGA input. It supported the 1024x768 that I was outputting, but it needed a 60Hz signal. As soon as I adjusted the Mac down, it connected.

I added a stereo cable from the Mac headphone jack to the TV and we were watching netflix, via the Macbook, on the big screen with the home theater stereo going.

Now if I'd just have been able to stay awake long enough to watch the entire movie. After a poor night's sleep Thur night, I couldn't stay awake for the entire movie. It did look cool, though and I need to watch the rest of it at some point.